LIANZA is aware that an historic publication by Sir Apirana Ngata written in 1922 on The Treaty of Waitangi, has been republished and is being distributed to New Zealand school libraries.
It has been published online by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research (NZCPR) with a preface by Dr Muriel Newman who is a founding member of the ACT New Zealand party. It can be found here >
LIANZA asked Historian Dr Vincent O’Malley to advise us on this and he responds
As I understand it, Ngata wrote the 1922 pamphlet in an attempt to counter the growing influence of T.W. Ratana and his movement calling for the Treaty of Waitangi to be honoured. Ngata was deeply suspicious of Ratana’s grass roots movement.
Ngata’s views on the Treaty were strongly rejected by many other Māori at the time but also reflective of his position within a mainstream political system dominated by Pākehā. He could not have survived long in the Liberal party (or later Reform and National) had he espoused views similar to those held by Ratana.
In terms of how the document should be regarded, the first important point to note is that it is a secondary source – that is, Ngata wasn’t at Waitangi (or anywhere else) in 1840 and so it is not a first-hand account of what was agreed at the time.
Secondly, relying solely on a single (and secondary) source for something as complex as the Treaty of Waitangi would be shoddy historical practice. There are a range of other sources that need to be taken into account in order to form a fuller picture of the Treaty, what it meant and the context in which it was signed.
I would recommend that schools that do stock the 1922 pamphlet should also have on hand Professor Carwyn Jones piece on it from the Spinoff >
